Easy valve shim removal

[Jon124]

Hi Everyone,
I recently did the valve shims and timing belt on my 81 Spider 2000, and I thought I would share a trick for removing the valve shims. I have not seen this trick mentioned at all on the forums, but I learned it when doing the valve shims on a Suzuki GS750 motorcycle which has the same type of setup. All that is required is some plastic zip ties and electrical tape. I am writing up this tutorial because from what I have read on this forum the actual shim removal tool doesn't work that well or is not easy to use. Enjoy

Step 1:
Remove valve covers and spark plugs, be sure to use a blow gun to clean around the plugs to prevent dirt from falling into the cylinders.

Step 2:
Measure all of the clearances.

Step 3:
Get a plastic tie and fold the end a couple times and wrap in in tape to look like the image below. This will be used a wedge between the valve seat and the valve in order to hold the valve open enough to remove the shim. Ensure that you have a string or something tied to the opposite end just in case you drop it on the cylinder, I know from experience that these aren't fun to fish out of a cylinder haha.



Step 4:
Rotate the engine until one of the cam lobes is pointed directly onto its shim as below.



Now if you look through the spark plug hole you will see the edge of the valve.



Step 5:
Insert the zip tie tool under the edge of the valve and try to get it in as far as you can.



Step 6:
While holding the zip tie tool in place rotate the engine until the cam lobe points away from the shim. The zip tie will now be held in place from the spring pressure on the valve and there will be plenty of clearance to remove the shim.



Step 7:
Rotate the shim bucket until the removal notch is visible and pry the shim loose with a screwdriver, now it can be removed easily with pliers.



Step 8: Finishing up
Measure you shims, calculate shims needed, install shim and rotate engine to remove tool. Make sure you don't try and rotate the the cam onto the shim bucket with no shim in place or this can damage the cam. Note that it is quicker if you have 2 of these zip tie tools going at once as you can be getting one lined up as you are removing another, otherwise it takes a lot of crankshaft rotation to remove and install from one valve at a time. I hope you all enjoyed this write up, and good luck changing your shims.

[Odoyle]

Great write up, should make my valve adjustment job a bit easier. Did you remove your radiator so you could crank the engine over or did you use an external starter to turn the crank?

[garion]

Great write up, should make my valve adjustment job a bit easier. Did you remove your radiator so you could crank the engine over or did you use an external starter to turn the crank?

Not the original poster, but I never had to remove the radiator to rotate the engine. I use a breaker bar and a socket. Plenty of space.

[aj81spider]

I just put it in fourth and roll it back and forth.

[wizard124]

Outstanding!

[robhaynes]

How do you go about stocking shims? I see they will sell me an assortment 2 each for $170 - a bit much. I suppose the only other way to do it is to take it apart and measure everything and then just leave it apart until the new shims come in.

[131]

How do you go about stocking shims? I see they will sell me an assortment 2 each for $170 - a bit much. I suppose the only other way to do it is to take it apart and measure everything and then just leave it apart until the new shims come in.

If you're only checking clearances on a running vehicle, it's not likely you'll need 8 shims, usually 1 or 2, if at all. Check clearances, measure 1 or 2 shims, put it back together and order what's required, keep driving.

[Jon124]

The process I did was to measure all the clearances, and then remove each shim and measure it's thickness then calculate the sizes needed and order parts. I put everything back together in between since they are pretty easy to get at. It is a lot cheaper to buy 8 shims at about $5 each than an entire kit, and it shouldn't need re adjustment for a long time.